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Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Devils did some 3-on-3 scrimmaging today at Prudential Center with their Olympic players, who are back in New Jersey, getting another day off.

The full team is will have the day off Sunday before they get back to full practices with the four Olympians -- Patrik Elias, Jaromir Jagr, Marek Zidlicky and Damien Brunner -- joining them to prepare for their first post-Olympic game Thursday against Columbus.

The Devils' 18 non-Olympians are split into two teams. The Red Team has six forwards and only two defensemen with Cory Schneider in net. The Black Team has four forwards and four defensemen with Martin Brodeur as the goaltender..

They played 3-on-3 for 45 minutes of running time with conditioning coordinator Mike Vasalani hitting the buzzer every 45 seconds to signal for the players to change. They stopped a couple times to do shootouts.

The game was tied 11-11 until Red Team coach Chris Terreri pulled the goaltender to try to win the game. Ryan Carter scored into the empty net for a 12-11 win for the Black Team.

Devils coach Pete DeBoer said there were "a couple" benefits to the 3-on-3 after three days of practicing with just drills and without the full team

"We simulated some 45 second shifts to get them back in the rhythm of shifts," DeBoer said. "I think the 3-on-3 is a real conditioning skate too, especially if you work as hard as the guys did at it today. We scored some goals, which obviously is important for us."

***DeBoer said he hasn't talked to all of the team's Olympians yet, but he will do so before Monday morning's practice. Then, the focus turns specifically to getting ready for Thursday's game.

"We're going to get into more 5-on-5 stuff and specialty teams stuff, get back at system work," DeBoer said. "But I thought the guys worked hard the last three days. We haven't had a full roster, but they've come back with a lot of energy and I think are excited to play."

In addition to practicing the last four days, the coaching staff has held individual meeting with all the non-Olympians as they gear up for the final 23 games of the regular season. The Devils sit only three points out of a playoff spot, but have to jump over four teams.

DeBoer said he has “nothing radical” planned as far as changes when the team resumes play Thursday.

“I don’t think we need anything radical,” DeBoer said. “I think we’re real close. We took the break here. We did a lot of individual meetings. We hit everybody on the team, so we could give them some feedback on where they’re at and what we need from them and any ideas they had. I think the general consensus was we’re real close. We just have to find that winning edge.”

Before the break, DeBoer seemed to be searching for the right combinations from his top two lines while keeping the Ryane Clowe-Adam Henrique-Michael Ryder line together. That search will continue after the break.

DeBoer said he plans to keep Clowe, Henrique and Ryder together at least to start after the break, though that combination’s production had dried up prior to the break. Ryder has no goals in his last 13 games, Clowe has none in his last eight contests and Henrique has none in seven.

“The Clowe-Henrique-Ryder combination, I like what they’re capable of doing,” DeBoer said. “They like playing with each other. The production wasn’t there the last four or five games. They created some chances. In Washington (a 3-0 loss on Feb. 8, I think we had them for four or five chances as a line. But, we obviously, need those guys to finish. … But we’ve got to get production from not just then, from everybody.”

DeBoer didn’t want to get into today what he has planned for the top two lines, though. It sounds like he wants to sit down with Elias, Jagr and Brunner first.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.